Tag Archive: Sander van Doorn

Hello friends, I hope you all are enjoying the new year so far. For today, let’s go back to 2009 for an Essential Mix put together by Sander van Doorn. I believe 2009-2010 were the last couple of years in which Sander played mostly techy tunes before he changed up his style. He has always been known for playing quality stuff regardless of the genre, however recently it seems like he has been bitten by the electro bug as his sets feature considerably more electro-house. I prefer his older style more, but you can’t blame a guy for diversifying his sound. This mix has 5 SvD productions/remixes, including the very hot Bliksem made under his revived Purple Haze alias. The SvD remix of The Killers’ Spaceman was also another big jam in 2009, as was Bastillon towards the end of the year. Some other favorites of mine are Sasha’s remix of Jetstream and Marco V’s Digital Enemy. Markus’ Chinook was another monster and the Simmons & Machiavelli remix of Omen is another wild one. 2009 was also the breakthrough year for Ummet Ozcan, a talented Doorn Records producer, and his mix of Ronald van Gelderen’s Backstabberzz can be found at the end of the show. You will find Sander’s usual crisp and flawless mixing throughout this set as he starts with house and ends with trance. It’s a good thing we still have these older SvD mixes to fall back on because the tracklists are money and the performances are exceptional. Take a listen below to hear a great mix from one of my favorite DJs.

During the second to last week in October of this year, the annual Amsterdam Dance Event festival took place in 52 venues across the city of Amsterdam. ADE is very similar to Miami’s Winter Music Conference, in that they both include DJ workshops, demonstrations, interviews, and of course live performances for the thousands of visitors. Sander van Doorn is one of those DJs that has been tearing up dance floors around the world for quite a while now. Here is is solo set from the first day of the ADE festival this year, recorded from the Escape party by BBC Radio’s Essential Mix. He also had a back to back set with Ferry Corsten, but that one is not as impressive. I like this mix because it is very similar to what he played when he was down here in San Diego a few weekends ago. I heard many of the same songs live, including Rocket Fuel, Bang Bang, Maximal Crazy, Alive, and of course all of the new tracks from his new album. The Matteo DiMarr rework of Radiohead’s Creep is also downright amazing. As usual the mixing is flawless, and I have come to expect nothing less from Sander. He has, however, seemed to venture towards more of an electro inclination, which I do not prefer but cannot complain about. This set is still pretty awesome and it plays well from start to finish.

DIRTYCHOONS has another opportunity to hook up two fans to check out his date in San Diego at Fluxx Nightclub on Thursday October 27, 2011. The last contest we ran was for the Identity Tour Los Angeles at Palladium last month and we now we want to hook up our SD fans with some Sander Van Doorn.

We here at DIRTYCHOONS have been following Sander from his days of remixing ‘Control Freak’ by Armin Van Buurren and also remixes of Club Scene Investigator’s ‘Direct Dizko.’

Sander van Doorn’s Identity radio show did not always follow the format it currently uses. It used to be just Sander on the decks for one solid hour playing dark, twisted tunes. Sadly this is not the case anymore, which is why I often dig up these old sets of his. This week we are going way back, all the way to the very first episode of his radio show. In this mix we get a taste of some old school Sander productions, including tracks from his Purple Haze and Sam Sharp aliases. Sander’s excellent version of Armin’s Control Freak and the relatively unknown rework of Breathe show off Sander’s early remixing skills. In fact, the back to back play of Eden to Control Freak is pure bliss. In this set we also see many artists which Sander will feature quite frequently on Identity. New tracks by Marco V, Mojado, Mac Zimms, and Scott Mac always find their way onto Sander’s radio show. When SvD first broke out onto the scene around this time, his work had a personality to it that stood out in a rapidly growing scene. For a great look back at some of this uniqueness, check out this mix or any of the other earlier Identity mixes from 2006-2007.

Solo albums constitute the major pillars of every artist’s career. Three years after the release of his debut album Supernaturalistic, Sander van Doorn continues to build his legacy with this second album from the studio. While the first CD was edgy and full of surprises, this new one showcases a mature, more refined style that Sander has not really demonstrated before. I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed upon the first listen, but only because I was expecting all the tracks to be as mind blowing as Daisy or Reach Out. However, after putting on my headphones and giving it a few more shots, I came to discover that the old-school style which I love is still here, it’s just more deeply rooted amongst some of the newer stuff. Let me explain what I mean by going through the tracks.

The biggest difference with this album is the unexpected yet welcomed use of vocals in 5 of the 12 songs, including the super catchy Believe featuring Belgian singer Tom Helsen. The vocals are all used very tastefully, but I’m still highly anticipating the dub versions of Timezone and Love is Darkness to be released. No offense to the vocalists and songwriters, but there’s just something about a Purple Haze track where you just want to experience it by itself. Another major distinction with this album is the appearance of several other producers who have helped craft a few of these tunes. The three songs with Sidney Samson, Laidback Luke, and Adrian Lux are all pretty solid with the diverse flavors each producer contributes, however I still believe Sander is the most creative when he works by himself. Out of all the new previously unreleased tracks, my favorite ones are Drink to Get Drunk, Kitten, Track 12, and the very clever Slap My Pitch Up with it’s beautiful humming bassline. Not surprisingly, these are the ones that most closely resemble the techy style that we have all come to love from Sander. The simple yet highly addictive Koko has been out for a while now, but I’m still not sick of it even though it plays every time my cell phone rings. Nano and Beyond Sound are perfect examples that show off the fresh, softer side of Sander as he serves up some nice melodies in those tracks.

Overall I am pretty pleased with this release. Sander has definitely surprised me with his newer style on some of the songs, but it’s nice to hear him broaden his range and add to his skill-set. I’m sure all of the vocal productions and collaborations will bring in new listeners, and there is still enough of that old school, high-energy, attacking style to be found in this album. In terms of evolving his sound and experimenting with new approaches, Sander has taken 13 steps in the right direction with Eleve11.